1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to cartons for packaging toy vehicles, and more particularly to a carton having an open front to display the vehicle, the carton including an internal locking device which is rendered effective after the vehicle is inserted into the carton to prevent unauthorized removal thereof.
2. Background of Invention
Toy vehicles are often packaged in sealed cartons having opaque walls. Hence the actual nature of the vehicle is not evident to a prospective purchaser whose impression of the contents of the package is gained only from a representation or photograph of the vehicle on the face of the carton.
A two-dimensional photograph is incapable of doing justice to the exact nature of the vehicle, and may therefore discourage sales. It is for this reason that many toy vehicles are packaged in open-front cartons so that the prospective customer has direct access to the vehicle and is able to see exactly what is being offered for sale.
To prevent the vehicle from falling out of the open-front carton when the carton is being handled or shipped, and also to prevent unauthorized removal of the vehicle, it is necessary to provide means to securely retain the vehicle within the carton without, however, blocking the display.
To this end, the Lehner U.S. Pat. No. 3,847,276 discloses an open-front carton for a vehicle in which the carton is formed by a sheet of fiberboard provided with fold lines, making it possible to fold the sheet around a base tray. This tray is slotted to form recesses to receive the wheels of the vehicle and includes retaining ribs to hold the vehicle on the tray. One practical difficulty with the Lehner arrangement, apart from its complexity, is that the vehicle cannot be placed into a preformed carton, but must first be mounted and secured on a tray, after which the carton is erected thereabout. This assembly procedure is time-consuming and costly.
The approach to this problem taken in the Keats et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,376,253 is much simpler, for here the toy vehicle is placed within a preformed open-front carton. The carton includes a bottom wall having a resilient flap extension that folds in to assume an angular position relative to the bottom wall, the leading edge of the folded-in flap frictionally engaging the inner wheels of the vehicle and thereby preventing its removal.
The practical drawback to the Keats et al. arrangement is that the flap position is maintained only if frictional engagement takes place. But if the inserted vehicle has wheel axle lengths resulting in a small separation between the inner wheels and the leading edge of the retaining flap, then the flap will be loose and ineffective.